Religious Views on Homosexuality

Prior to reading act 1 of the play, The Laramie Project,  by Moises Kaufman, I didn't know or understand why certain religions didn't accept gay people. I had always thought that people of the church, whichever church that may be, should be accepting of all people because they supposedly strived to act more God-like. I was ignorant to their reasoning. Now, after reading it and although I still may not agree with it, at least I can be knowledgeable on the subject. In act 1 of The Laramie Project, there are many different perspectives presented, many revolving around religion. In the play a gay man was beaten to death and leaders of different religions share their beliefs on what is right and what is wrong surrounding this subject. Doug Laws, the Stake Ecclesiastical leader for the Mormon Church, says, "There's no sexual deviation in the Mormon Church. No-no leniency. We just think its out of bounds"(Kaufman, 25).  This is a clear example of a church that is presented in the play that is unaccepting of gays. But to understand why it is that churches like the Mormon Church believe it is wrong, one must keep reading. In the Bible there are claims of homosexuality to be a sin and the way a church acts towards homosexual people depends on the way they interpret the Bible. Stephen Mead Johnson, the Unitarian minister, has a literal interpretation of the Bible and he explains why they act the way they do when he says, "And most Americans believe, and they do, that the Bible is the word of God, and how are you gonna fight that?' (Kaufman, 25). One can more easily understand, perhaps not agree with but understand, that people of certain religions do the things they do because they interpret the Bible as the actual words of God and they don't want to betray God by ignoring His word.